Dangote, Adenuga, Alakija rank among richest Blacks

Of the 13 black billionaires on the 2019 Forbes’ list of the World’s Billionaires, four of them are Nigerians.

They include Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija.

According to Forbes, cement tycoon, Aliko Dangote is still the richest Black person in the world with a fortune estimated at $10.9bn. He’s closely followed by Nigerian oil and telecoms mogul, Mike Adenuga, with $9.1bn.

Nigerian businessman, Abdulsamad Rabiu, also made a return to the club after he last featured in 2014.

Forbes reported that Rabiu merged his privately owned Kalambaina Cement Company with listed firm, Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled in December 2018.

This merger meant that Rabiu owned 90 per cent of the new, larger company with a market capitalisation of more than $800m. He’s currently worth $1.6bn.

For oil magnet, Alakija, her $1.1bn wealth comes from her company which owns a substantial participating interest in OML 127, a lucrative oil block on the Agbami deep-water oilfield in Nigeria.

Others on the list of Black billionaires are Michael Jordan, Michael Lee-Chin, Oprah Winfrey, Patrice Motsepe, Isabel Dos Santos, Strive Masiyiwa, Robert Smith, David Steward, and Mohammed Ibrahim.